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WORK ORGANIZATION AND STRESS-RELATED DISORDERS

Inputs: Partnerships and Stakeholders

Partnerships

Partnerships are integral to the NIOSH Cross-Sector Program on Work Organization and Stress-Related Disorders. Input from customers and stakeholder groups, who have inherent knowledge and concern about the safety and health of workers across sectors of the economy, helps in setting research priorities. Collaborative research with our partners may include in-kind contributions that help to leverage NIOSH research dollars. Partners also add expertise or specialized experience to research teams, which benefits research, analysis, interpretation, and communication of findings.

NIOSH is currently partnering with many organizations representing industry, labor, government, and academia to develop and advance research on work organization and stress-related disorders. The following list is a sample of partners engaged with NIOSH in research and other activities on these topics.

Academia

University of Buffalo: Along with the Buffalo Police Department and the Department of Justice, the University of Buffalo is a partner with NIOSH in the design and implementation of research on work organization and stress-related disorders in the high stress occupation of police officers.

University of Michigan, Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI): NIOSH is partnering with the UMTRI to conduct research on the influence of stress and work organization on fatal traffic accidents among couriers. UMTRI is conducting a search of a fatal traffic accident database in support of the project.

University of Illinois at Chicago: NIOSH is partnering with the University of Illinois at Chicago and Chicago-based community partners to design and conduct research on minorities' occupational safety and health concerns.

University of Miami, Florida State University, and Georgia Institute of Technology: NIOSH is partnering with these three universities in a multi-site study examining the influence of occupation and job characteristics on cognitive functioning and the use of technology in older adults.

Government

National Science Foundation (NSF): In 2001, NIOSH entered into an Interagency Agreement with the National Science Foundation to administer a set of survey questions on the quality of work life as part of the 2002 General Social Survey (GSS). These quality of work life items were again administered as part of the GSS in 2006. The GSS is a biannual, personal interview survey of U.S. households conducted by the National Opinion Research Center and funded by the NSF. The first GSS survey took place in 1972; since then, more than 37,000 respondents have answered more than 3,500 different questions. These surveys have been widely distributed and extensively analyzed by social scientists around the world. The GSS contains a standard core of demographic and attitudinal variables and topics of special interest called "topical modules." A Board of Overseers, composed of distinguished social scientists, monitors the GSS. Additionally, the GSS is part of the International Social Survey Program, a continuing program of cross national collaboration on surveys covering topics important for social science research.

Florida Department of Health (FDOH): Following the 2004 Hurricane season, the FDOH requested technical assistance from the University of Miami, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, and the CDC, including NIOSH. The goal of this partnership is to investigate the impact of the storms on the work effectiveness and stress of the FDOH workforce and ways to improve the resilience of the FDOH workforce in responding to these types of emergencies.

Buffalo Police Department: See University of Buffalo under Academia.

Department of Justice: See University of Buffalo under Academia.

National Institute of Justice (NIJ): NIJ has been a partner with NIOSH on the Federal Interagency Task Force on Workplace Violence Research and Prevention since January 2003. In this capacity, NIJ has worked with NIOSH and the Task Force to provide a framework and guidelines to reduce workplace violence.

Industry

In-Home Supportive Services Consortium, San Francisco, CA: The In-Home Supportive Services Consortium is a nonprofit agency that provides in-home services to medically and/or functionally impaired adults to enable them to continue living in their homes as long as possible. The Consortium is participating in a NIOSH study aimed at identifying and reducing work hazards in home health care. The Consortium is facilitating the administration of study surveys, work observations in home settings, and evaluations of assistive devices for enhancing safety while lifting and moving patients.

International

National Institute of Industrial Health (NIIH), Japan:In 2001, NIOSH and NIIH entered into an agreement to collaborate in research on preventing work-related diseases and improving the health of workers. Under the auspices of this agreement, NIOSH and NIIH scholars have collaborated in studies of work organization and stress-related disorders. Numerous scientists from NIIH have presented seminars at NIOSH in support of these studies, and a leading scientist from NIIH has joined NIOSH as a Research Fellow.

Labor

United Mine Workers of America (UMWA): The UMWA has assisted NIOSH researchers with multiple facets of an ongoing research project "
Workplace Stress Among Underground Coal Miners
." UMWA contributions include assisting with (1) development of a stress survey for the project, (2) union miners' participation in a focus group to discuss workplace stress, (3) review of the survey instrument, and (4) arranging data collection from miners at various sites.

Service Employees International Union (SEIU): SEIU has assisted NIOSH in conducting a study aimed at identifying and reducing work hazards in home health care. They have assisted in arranging survey administrations for home care workers, including Chinese-, English-, Russian-, and Spanish-speaking workers at various sites.

Buffalo, NY Police Benevolent Association (PBA): The Buffalo, NY PBA is assisting NIOSH in a study aimed at identifying and reducing organizational and field aspects of police work that may lead to poor health and development of disease. The Association is aiding in recruitment of police officers, disseminating of information about the study, and encouraging all members to take part.

Nongovernmental Organizations

American Psychological Association (APA): NIOSH has worked in partnership with APA since 1986 to advance understanding of organizational risk factors for work-related stress, illness, and injury, and ways to reduce these risks. This partnership has included APA participation with NIOSH on (1) scientific panels to develop research agendas addressing these issues, (2) co-sponsorship of seven international conferences on work, stress, and health, (3) collaboration in development and administration of graduate and post-graduate university training programs in occupational health psychology, and (4) collaboration in founding the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, which is one of only two journals featuring research on occupational stress and related topics.

Pacific Health Research Institute (PHRI): NIOSH is partnering with PHRI to design and implement research related to work organization factors and stress-related diseases in a population-based study of Asian-American men that has been ongoing for more than 30 years. This partnership has allowed NIOSH to examine clinical exam and survey data to determine in arranging survey administrations for home care workers, including Chinese-, English-, Russian-, and Spanish-speaking workers at various sites.

Professional and Trade Organizations

American Nurses Association (ANA): NIOSH is partnering with ANA to conduct research on safety and health in relation to work schedules in nurses. The ANA helped demonstrate the need for this research, develop study methods, and establish a plan for communicating and disseminating research findings.

National Safety Council (NSC), Research and Statistical Services: NIOSH is partnering with NSC to conduct a transportation pilot project on risk factors leading to injuries among female package delivery drivers. NSC's supporting activities include conducting both a focus group meeting with a leading package delivery company and a search of four databases of fatal and nonfatal injury events. Information from NSC research will inform research efforts to identify work organization and stress-related risk factors related to package-delivery tasks.